Heritage costs a concern

Photo: Contributed - City of Kelowna

Cameron House

Kelowna council voiced its concern Monday over the potential costs to preserve city owned heritage buildings.

The concerns came up during a discussion on the current state of Cameron House.

"I have heard today that the foundation walls are gone, the roof trusses are gone, the windows are pretty much gone and the walls are pretty much shot. We definitely have a problem because it is going to be costly to do," said Coun. Luke Stack.

"I know staff are now exploring what to use the building for, and I actually do think that needs to be nailed down first. We have to decide what would we want to use that space for because I think that will influence how far we go the other direction."

At issue Monday was whether $200,000 set aside in this year's budget for future renovations and restoration to the 88-year-old log cabin be kept in the budget or removed until total restoration work and costs can be determined.

Council decided to do just that on the recommendation of parks and buildings planner Terry Barton.

Staff will update council on works and associated costs later this year with the possibility of putting in another  financial request for the 2016 budget year.

However, there were concerns raised, not only about the cost of repairing Cameron House, but other city-owned heritage structures as well.

A concern that was shared by city manager Ron Mattiussi.

"When we look at these assets, they are going to be in various forms of disrepair or repair and there may be a point in time when you ask yourself is this worth the investment we're putting in even to let it sit there?" said Mattiussi.

"I think there's a lot of things that could be done with this. I just think it's important that as staff bring forward the policy that council could then debate as part of the community input. I think you could fully intend to say 'this is how we are dealing heritage' and do it through heritage."

The city owns 19 heritage assets, seven of which are said to be in very poor condition, including Cameron House.

Mattiussi said he doesn't believe there will be money to preserve all those buildings.

"First, the question is what is council's philosophy as to how it wishes to move forward on the heritage front? I really think the discussion has to be how you want to handle this in the future, recognizing you'll never really have the tax dollars to preserve even the top three, I would suggest."

Coun. Tracy Gray agreed it's always a challenge to put public funds into a building such as this and agreed it needs to be determined who will be using it.

The city received just a nominal monthly rent when the building was used as a day-care facility until the house was declared unsafe in 2012.

Barton said the city has received interest from day-care facilities and non-profit groups that would want to use the building as office space.

He said those types of users would again bring in a nominal rental fee.